I'm currently in the UK and need to get my CELTA certificate stamped for a work permit.

I've worked out that getting it a. notorized, and b. apostilled, will come to about £150. What if i leave it until i come to ukraine? I've read that since im an eu citizen i can enter ukraine without a visa. Is this true?

An Apostille is a certification by the SECRETARY OF STATE or FOREIGN MINISTER certifying that the document is legitimate and not something you made with Adobe Photoshop in your bedroom.

A Notary will NOT work.

And what of countries, such as Canada, which do not use an Apostille system? I believe there are a few Canadian teachers with work permits there, are there not?

If one bothers to research the issue, it will be clear that, while the Apostille system is regulated by international treaty (disposing of the necessity of the document to be authenticated by the receiving country's Consulate in the sending country), Canada still requires that documents be authenticated by their foreign ministry and that some documents must be notarized (e.g. true copies of original documents) before they will consider authenticating the copies of the original documents.

Canada isn't special in this regard, so don't spill your poutine in outrage; Paraguay is also a non-signatory of the Hague Convention. It is often just an additional hoop to jump through and another fee to pay.

poutine spilling aside, the process for Canadians for documents is much harder and takes much, much more time. You would need to submit all legal documents to DFAIT in Ottawa. This process costs around $100 plus an additional $15 for each copy/extra document and takes 8 weeks. Yep. 8 Weeks. That doesn't count the time it takes for you to mail them there (unless you live in Ottawa) and have them mailed back to you. There is a round about way you can do it if you're already in Ukraine but it's such a pain... You can take the original documents to the Canadian Embassy in Kiev, have them notarized, then take them to the Department of Foreign affairs in Kiev and have them signed or stamped or some jazz.

I went through this last month and it was a living hell. I ended up in Polish limbo waiting for a work permit to apply for a business visa for about 3 weeks. Never again, my friends. Never again. Watch out for any school that doesn't start this process when you're in your home country, or at least before you've entered Ukraine. Trust me, it will save you a lot of time and money- as well as your sanity.

One cool thing to note though- Canadian visas to Ukraine are pretty cheap if obtained in Canada- looking at 60-240 depending on the type of visa.